Hi all,
Well, my honeymoon was cut extremely short. We arrived into SRC on Tuesday afternoon. From what we saw at the resort, we loved it. We were on the 3rd floor of the Kensington block and the room was gorgeous. The resort looked great. We knew Ivan was a possibility, but there was no worry at the resort about it, so we went on our merry little way.

On Wednesday we enjoyed the beach and went snorkeling. We still weren't that worried about the hurricane, it was still a category 3 and there was still a question on whether or not it would hit our part of the island. When we returned around 4pm, we had a note slipped under our door that said that we had the option to go to another Sandals resort off the island, but when I called about it they said that unless we were flying on Air Jamaica, we couldn't go.

So, we figured we would stick it out. We took the shuttle to MoBay and ate dinner at a restaurant over there. Again, there was no worries about the hurricane from our hotel. It was "No Problem" as usual. After dinner, we popped our heads into one of the sitting areas that had a TV and the president of Jamaica was addressing the country. He then stated that the Hurricane was strengthening from a Category 4 to a Category 5 and then the staff of MoBay addressed the resort. He told everyone about the evacuations to the offsite hotels.

That's when we started to get very nervous. When we got back to the hotel, there was a small sign posted that there was a mandatory meeting at 9am the next morning. From talking with others staying at our resort, they said that there were no more flights out of Jamaica available- which is what they were told by resort employees.

I wasn't going to take that for an answer. My husband and I contacted our family and they went to work on finding us a flight out. They were successful after about two hours. We didn't care where we flew into, we just wanted out of there. They found one to Orlando and then on to California after a stop in Phoenix.

While we were off on an on the phone, we heard a lot of noise out on the balcony. When we went out there, there was a couple from England who had just flown in.. .. ..and housekeeping was finishing up with their room. We talked to them for quite a while and updated them with what was going on. I couldn't believe that they still were letting people come to the island!! Plus, no one at the resort told them about the hurricane. They were absolutely clueless!!! We packed everything and went to bed around 3am.

We left out of Jamaica around 11am on Thursday. (Unfortunately, also my Birthday!!!) I was just amazed at the relaxed attitude of the hotel staff. We were told that Jamaica was a "blessed" island and that the hurricane would not hit there. Well, unfortunately that wasn't the case.

We'll be sorting out the hurricane refund guarantee after this whole thing gets over with. We're sad to have only had a day and a half Honeymoon, but we're just glad to be back on U.S. soil, where they take hurricanes seriously!!

Glad you made it back safe and sound. Congrats on your recent wedding and many many happy years to you both.
I keep watching the news and reading on here about the storm, and my heart goes out to all these people in all these countries. I can not imagine what it would be like. I have only blizzards to talk about.
I am sitting here thinking about our up coming trip in February, and then really think I'm a rotten person.
Hopefully things will be ok for all these people.

I know you must be disappointed. Traveler indicated that the Montego Bay resort handled it well. I hope that you can get a chance to spend more time either at that Sandals or another one, because the resorts are wonderful. Best wishes for a wonderful ife together.

I am suppose to fly out on saturday and have no clue what to do. Should I call sandals on monday or wait till they call me does anyone know ?

Absolutely call your travel agent ASAP and Sandals directly if you can. We were in the Bahamas when Frances hit and moved over to Jamaica for 3 days, after which we left to escape Ivan.. .. . Speaking from experience, they don't want to deal with you until you're on site but it looks like the hurricane is still on its way out of Jamaica - the airport is probably closed. In the Bahamas after Frances, a cat 3 storm with less damage then we're seeing on the news from Ivan, they closed the resort for 10 days. Talk to someone ASAP and don't take no for an answer. I would say your best bet is to try and relocate to St Lucia or Antigua or reschedule entirely. Best of luck!!!

I called 1-800-Sandals and spoke to a real nice guy and told him that we were to arrive at SMB on the 26th of Sept. He said the resort is closed for a week and will open on Sept 18th.